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Introducing: The Sheepdogs

2 Nov

For such a small population, Canada does put forth a lot of musical talent into the world. The Sheepdogs are no exception. Pushed into the spotlight by the “Do You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star?” contest put on by the Rolling Stones Magazine, this Saskatoon band is starting to get their name heard. With the band struggling for exposure since their inception in the Canadian prairies, the news of winning the contest couldn’t have been sweeter news to their ears.

And with a sound reminiscent from the 1960′s and 70′s that could easily fool you into thinking you accidentally flipped to the classic rock station, its nice to hear the blend of modern and classic rock in their music. Catching a glimpse of the band members will further make you wonder what decade this really is as well, yep, that’s a lot of hair. You can check out more from the Rolling Stones Magazine here.

While you may recognize the track “I Don’t Know”, I urge you to explore some of their other tracks that are just as good. So with that said, add them to your playlist, click around YouTube, and enjoy the music that is The Sheepdogs.

Music for Today

2 Sep

Another day begins to the sound of rain on the window. Here are some fitting songs to any morning. Enjoy.

A Taste of Carnival: Rio 2011

8 Mar

Carnival only happens once a year, and is rooted in Catholic tradition. The festival occurs 40 days before Easter, and can be symbolized as the farewell to bodily pleasures before lent begins. And while many Catholic communities around the world celebrate, the most well known party happens in Rio de Janeiro. Pamela Anderson and football legend Ronaldinho made appearances this year, and bonus points for a samba dancing stormtrooper group. As Carnival wraps up in Brazil, take a look at some of the highlights in color and costume.

Photos courtesy of the Belfast Telegraph

More photos from CNN here.

Happy Valentines Day

14 Feb

Even though I don’t have a valentine today, I don’t mind wishing a good Vday to everyone else. So whether its a a true Valentines Day, or a ‘Valiumtine Day’ please enjoy my favorite Katie Melua song on this day.

Beat Box Champion of the World

28 Jan

This title gets thrown around quite a bit. I grew up listening to Rahzel, one could say he was one of the beat box innovators, bringing this unique style of vocals to life. “If your mother only knew” was one of the very first works by him that hooked me right away. And when anyone mutters the words beat box I automatically hear that song in my head. The art of beat box has definitely taken off, and has spawned a great number of talented beat box aficionados. One of which is making some waves lately is Eklips from France. You can check out vids by both Rahzel and Eklips below. Listen, Watch, Enjoy.

The B Train Band

24 Oct

Skimming the homepage of CNN today was a little story on these guys. If you don’t want to lug your instruments onto the train to perform, you can always just bring your iPhone. This is a band called AtomicTom and they recently performed an entire song on the B Train in New York City. The catch is they only brought their iPhones (and a an amp). Ive seen alot of train musical acts on my travels, but never one like this. Granted I still dislike the entire iPhone empire, I’ll let it slide this time for doing something so cool with an iPhone app and bringing some smiles to peoples faces on their commute.

You can check out their facebook fanpage here.

The Beauty of Time Lapse

29 Sep

I was recently introduced to 2 videos from 2 friends, and I thought they were so good that I was obligated to share them. One video documents Hong Kong, and was shown to me by a friend there, the other is of Mexico City, and was shown to me by a friend who is from there as well. They both deal alot with time lapse, which is quickly becoming a favorite technique of mine, and these works only further inspire me. I think they are well put together, much props to the creators who took so much time to do them, check them out below!

Both are on Vimeo, so check them out here: Hong Kong, Mexico City.

Painting Time Lapse

27 Sep

Incase you ever wondered what it would look like to paint a garage in under 2 minutes, I recently did some time lapse of that exact job in my garage. 15 second intervals, and my garage is finally in a state that resembles what a garage should look like!

Check out the video!

180South: Impressions

7 Sep

Can challenging yourself, both physically and mentally drive you to change, inspire others to change, and to view the world differently? In 180 South, Jeff Johnson embarks on an epic journey for adventure, and also a journey to save one of the largest untouched wilderness spaces on the planet; Patagonia.

This documentary by Woodshed Films chronicles Jeff Johnson as he follows in the footsteps of a similar 1968 journey that his inspirational friends; Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins did long ago. The goal is to reach Patagonia in South America, and try to save this majestic wilderness from encroaching development. It is through this journey of sailboats, surfboards and rock climbing that the deeper meaning of conserving not only Patagonia, but the entire planet is revealed. And the ultimate question is presented to ourselves as society; can we simplify our lives?

Whether you think these guys are a bunch of hippy surf bums or not, this film definitely gets you thinking. And it also features some amazing videography and original music. The website www.180south.com is also fantastic and a great resource in addition to the film with some cool wallpapers and music to boot. Check out the trailer below, its 180 South, and its worth a watch.

iPhone 4: Worth Pitching a Tent For?

24 Jun

At 07:00 Thursday June 24, 2010 the new Apple iPhone 4 will be released in the United States, exciting apple fans across the globe. And as with any new release, such as the iPad and the iPhone 3GS etc, there are those hardcore fans that have been lining up outside apple stores across the US. According to this article on CNN, the first was a Dallas man who pitched his tent outside an apple store over a week ago already. If you take a spin down 5th avenue in New York tonight, you’ll probably see the line-up beginning to swell already as that 7am release time creeps closer and closer.

But I have to wonder, is it really worth it lining up for yet another hyped up release of an apple product? Lets look at 5 new features with the iPhone 4.

1.First up, the new iPhone 4 is boasting its new multi-tasking capabilities, now you can run up to 7 app services at the same time. But other smart phones such as the Droid have had unlimited multi-tasking capabilities for a long time already, old news…

2.The iphone 4 has the standard camera on the back, but now also a front facing camera as well for ‘FaceTime’ video calling. Yeah that’s cool, but my Nokia X6 has had that feature long before Apple thought about it. Its technology dating back to 2004.

3.Increased battery life is a new thing for apples latest phone. You would think that as Apple releases more and more versions of the same product, that things such as weight would be decreasing. But that’s not the case, the iPhone 4 weighs more than both previous version of the iPhone. A larger battery is attributed for this, which is a good thing, as the 3GS had one of the shortest battery lives of all smartphones.

4. Optics have been greatly improved and apple is claiming the new version has a display that ‘exceeds what’s perceivable by the human eye’. Maybe, but Apple has been lagging behind other smart phone display quality such as the AMOLED and TFT screens that Android phones like the HTC Evo4 have been using already.

5. The iphone 4 has moved the simcard slot to the right spine, but has switched to micro-simcard format. No longer will standard simcards be able to be used with the new phone. While this may not be a big deal to many. For myself, I value the compatibility a standard simcard format has when travelling etc.

I know I am a notorious Apple critic, but I do think the iPhone 4 is a great phone, just not worth the usual apple hype that goes along with it. Apple has been neck deep in lawsuits over patent infringement with multiple other phone companies over the past couple years, which only makes apples revolutionary claims even more questionable. Apple always does a great job at selling a decently ordinary product at an inflated price, and I’m sure they will continue to do this with the new iPhone 4. I mean what other company can make people call in sick for work, so they can run into a store first thing in the morning, high-fiving people, laughing and smiling as they purchase a mediocre product at steep price. Apple can. So if you feel this apparent breakthrough phone is worth sleeping in a tent on a cold hard sidewalk for a week, then by all means, go ahead, but I wont be there joining you!

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